Through the looking glassof sorts
by maximum scythe123
Summary: REWRITE! (same basic plot with some tweaks) A mission against Mirror Master goes horribly wrong and the team along with Batman finds themsevles in quite the predicument. Who is this Nightwing guy? Why is they're another Robin other than Dick? and most importantly WHERE or WHEN are they and how do they get back? rated T cuse i'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, look who's not dead. Anyway like it says in the description/summary thing this is a rewrite. Basically I'm going through and correcting my mistakes, tweaking a few things here and there and generally trying to make this a better story. Basic plot is still the same and all that jazz.**

**Any way sorry about the wait but you know; life, freshman year of high school, swim team, new computer, ect. Enjoy le fic!**

**Shout out to FEMALE ITACHI for the spectacular review. Seriously. Thank you. **

**Chapter 1: The mission**

"Team, today will be a collaborative effort between both league, and yourselves. There has been a recent reporting of Mirror Master in Gotham. Seeing as he normally haunts around Central City; this has roused the suspicion of Flash as well as myself. This will be a _covert _mission you will be following me in the batwing in the Bio-ship, we will observe and, if I deem it necessary, will engage in combat. You _will_ follow my lead. Understood?"

The Team stood before Batman, already suited up and ready to go as they received orders for their latest mission. All though none of them were quite expecting what it entailed. Well, no one except Kid Flash and Robin. KF because he already heard the news from Flash and Robin because he had heard it from Batman and already worked with the Dark Knight and knew what to expect from the Bat and what was expected of himself, unlike the others.

When Batman was done with the debriefing the Team nodded before moving to prepare. But not before Zatanna spoke up.

"Um, what about Rocket?"

Robin responded before his Mentor even had the chance to open his mouth. "She's on a mission with Icon and is unavailable at the moment."

Zatanna nodded, excepting the answer, before turning and following Artemis and M'gan out to the hangar.

Robin turned towards his mentor and father figure. "Ready? Been awhile since we've teamed up."

Batman merely nodded and walked away in the direction of the air transport hanger, ruffling Robin's hair as he went bringing a slight smile to the boy's face in the process.

As the others waited at the bio-ship M'gan finally voiced her worries. "Hey, Wally, do you have any idea what Mirror Master may want in Gotham?"

Wally shook his head before quickly swallowing his bite of granola bar. "Not for sure, but we think it might have to do with the new Diamond thingy that will be premiered at that auction coming up. A diamond of that size could be used for any number of things."

Artemis was the next to speak. "Just how big is it?"

"Big enough."

They all turned to see Batman walking in with Robin following close behind. Kaldur nodded to the others and M'gan opened the door to the Bio-ship. She was about to enter when Conner saw Robin was still following Batman.

"Robin Bio-ships over here."

The team turned to Robin with questioning glances.

Robin's faced turned a light shade of pink as he brought his arm up and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Um, yeah about that…Well, uh, you see…..I was, sort of going to…ride with Bats."

Even though it was supposed to be a statement it came out more as a question. Before Conner could ask or say anything Wally slapped a hand over his mouth and replied himself.

"Oh, ok we'll see ya there."

Robin nodded, the big bright smile on his face reminding everyone just how young their dear boy wonder really was, before he turned and raced off jumping up in the air before landing in the safety of the Batwing. Once they had taken off and were following the Dynamic Duo, Conner confronted Wally.

"So, care to explain why you put your hand over my mouth?"

Wally shrugged and the others leaned in, they were a bit interested to. "Yeah, sorry about that, course of habit."

But Artemis wasn't satisfied with that answer. "'Course of habit'? What for? Super Boy was just going to ask Robin a question; it wasn't that big a deal. Why would that trigger you 'habit'?"

Once more Wally shrugged. "Rob is like my little brother, I noticed he was uncomfortable, so out of hobbit I attempted to make it less uncomfortable for the guy….you still don't understand do you?"

The team, minus kaldur who was beginning to catch on, shook their heads.

Surprisingly, it was their newest member, Zatanna, who answered. "I think I do, you think of yourself as Robin's older brother so it's only natural that you would be protective of him like that

But you really didn't need to do that, it was pretty obvious that Robin just wanted to spend some time with Batman."

Conner raised an eyebrow. "Bats is Rob's mentor right? Doesn't he spend enough time with him as it is?"

"Not quite, I believe I understand." Kaldur began. "If you watch Robin carefully and listen to certain things he says, it's clear he thinks much more highly of Batman. I would go as far as to say he sees him as a father figure."

Wally pretended to shoot Kaldur with a finger gun. "Exactly, and I think we can all say that you never really get tired of your parents. Especially Robin, what with his auto-phobia and all, course after all the guy's been through you can't really blame him."

"Auto-phobia, you mean he's scared of cars or something" Conner asked

"No, from what I understand Auto-phobia is the traumatizing fear of being alone. Right?" M'gan informed/asked.

Artemis nodded. "Yeah, but why would Robin have Auto-phobia, he doesn't really seem like the type to have it."

Wally turned to look at her with a rare show of complete seriousness. "It doesn't have to do with _Robin _but his _secret ID_. It's not my place to explain but if you knew you'd understand just how well he is at self-control, the poor guys has practically been through hell and back. Considering that the real course for his fear came about before he even became Robin."

Zatanna spoke next. "He's been Robin ever since he was 9 right, Poor guy."

They were silent for a moment before M'gan received a transmission from Batman. Soon the video screen appeared and Batman's popped up as he relayed instructions.

"We will be arriving in approximately 5 minutes, 2 minutes from now we will split up as to avoid suspicion. Ms. Martian, you will need to put the Bio-ship in camouflage mode and go ahead of us, wait at the target point behind the building and wait for my signal, Robin and I will land there and check things out, since this is Gotham it won't look to suspicious for us to be their if we get caught, go ahead and start up the physic link and we will part ways understood?"

"Yes." With that the transmission cut off and M'gan's eyes began to glow as she set up the link.

**_M'gan: everyone online?_**

**_Wally: you bet ya_**

**_Artemis: yes_**

**_Conner: whatever_**

**_Zantanna: reading you loud and clear_**

**_Kaldur: yes, Batman, Robin?_**

**_Robin: Of course just waiting on you._**

**_Batman: good, move out_**

_Line break line break line break_

Robin watched as the Bio-ship disappeared into camouflage mode and zoomed ahead before sinking back into his seat next to Batman. It had been awhile since he'd been able to sit next to him like this for a mission. He kind of missed it.

"So, any idea what Mirror Master's after?"

Batman glanced at him before speaking. "It's not set in stone, but we suspect he's after the new diamond that is going to be showed at an action on the 5th."

Robin shook his head. "Must be some diamond to get him haul himself all the way to Gotham, have you contacted Gothom PD, or we going solo?"

"Solo…oh and Dick?"

Robin tensed Batman calling him by his ID on a mission is never a good thing. He tried for a smile. "Yes?"

"Your Math teacher called."

Aw crap. He was seriously reconsidering his idea of riding with Bat. He tried to play it cool after all he didn't do anything…...well nothing_ that_ bad. "What she say?"

"She was wondering if you we're interested in the UIL competition."

Robin blinked, that was it? She didn't find out that he hacked the school system to play pictures of photo shopped Jokers in a tutu on the announcement?

Brue glanced at him. "So are you?"

"Yeah sure, I don't see why not."

He received a nod in response. "We're here get ready."

Soon Batman and Robin were moving swiftly through the shadows towards the sound a welding torch and laughter. When dynamic duo arrived, still hidden undetected among the shadows, they froze.

"So not asterous." Robin breathed out.

Bats nodded in agreement. "We'll observe for a few more minutes then I'll decide whether or not to call in the team." With that Gotham's protectors slipped further into the shadows to do just that.

Down below Mirror master and his assistant, Smoke, were wilding together different pieces of mirrors and glass into one big mirror. In front of it M.M was fiddling with the biggest diamond either of them had ever seen. Upon closer inspection they could see that the giant mirror was another trans-dimensionl portal, but it was missing a big chunk, almost as big as that diamond… Just as Robin and Bats were about to fire their grappling hooks after Batman had signaled the team via mental link, Mirror Master finished his little project.

"Finally with this complete not only will I be a master of mirrors but of time and space!" he turned to his assistant, only to find her unconscious at the feet of the boy wonder and his mentor. M.M smiled in mock hospitality. "Ah, Batman and the boy blunder, how nice of you to drop by. You're just in time for the show." As he spoke he reached behind his back for the contraption's controller. He was just about to press the button when there was a flash of yellow and read and he was left pressing on his own hand.

Then kid flash stood 5 feet away from him leaning against the wall with the controller in hand. "Miss me?"

A snarl escaped M.M's lips. "Kid Flash, a little far from home don't you think."

"Oh and you're not?" came Artemis's voice followed by two arrows which pinned M.M to the wall as she jumped down followed by Zatanna."

"Tlem dna dnib!" As soon as the spell was spoken the metal of the arrows melted and formed into cuff keeping Mirror Master from escaping.

Batman nodded in approval. "Good, Supper boy, Ms. Martian, Aqualad. Break that mirror over there."

The afore mentioned nodded and made their way over to the giant mirror but Ms. Martian stopped them and turned to Batman who was having Zatanna melt the make-shift cuffs so he could place real ones on him.

"Um, I'm sensing levels of radiation coming from the mirror**_"_**

"How high?**_"_**

He was answered by a maniacal laugh. "High enough Batsy!"

Kid Flash shook his head. "I knew this was two easy." He was met by a nod of the head from the two Bats in the room.

The Team watched as a tall man with paper white skin in a purple suit with green hair and a gruesome blood red smile walked out of the shadows.

"Joker." Spat the Batman.

"That's right, Pudin' here is goanna ruff you up." Came Harley Quin's voice as she stepped out to stand next to Joker, two hyenas at her heels.

Mirror Master glared at Joker. "Nice of you to finally show up."

Joker laughed and snapped his fingers and Harley Handed him what looked like a bomb trigger. "Yes, well I had to acquire some insurance. But if you would so kindly ask your assisstant to fire this baby up….I would be much obliged." Apparently he found what he said extremely hilarious because he through his head back in maniacal laughter.

M.M looked a bit annoyed but he complied. "YOU HEARD THE CLOWN, FIRE HER UP!"

Wally looked confused before realization dawned on his face as he ran up to the 'unconscious assistant' he gave her a swift kick and she broke into bits of glass. "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" came a voice from above them in the cat walks. Everyone looked up to find the real version of Smoke standing at a control panel. With a cruel smile she pulled some kind of lever and the giant mirror began to glow brighter and brighter by the second, a strong vacuum like wind began to pull at the heroes. Being the closest Kaludr got pulled in first, M'gan almost went through next but Supper boy, who was holding on the medal poll next to him, grabbed her out of the air at the last second. Zatanna tried to keep herself inplace with a spell, digging her feet into the ground and magically sticking herself there. Artemis fired her grappling arrow just as Batman and Robin fired there grappling hooks. Artemis's missed and she was sucked in nocking into Wally and taking him with her.

Mirror Master, Smoke, Harley Quin, and Joker were already at the entrance and out of harm's way. Joker turned around with a cruel smile on his face. "SO LONG BATSY!" with that he slammed the door shut but not before he hit his trigger. Bombs went off sending a tremor though the building causing Supper boy to lose his grip, which in turn caused him and M'Gan to fall into the portal. One of the bombs had caused the support beam that Robin's hook was wrapped around to break. As he flew back Batman grasped him and pulled him close but the support beam that his was wrapped around was already damaged and with the strong wind it couldn't take their combined weight. After another a minute it finally gave way and the two protectors of Gotham joined the others of the team's previous descents into the mirror turned portal as the world went black. Only Zatanna stayed in place sue to her magic, staring wide eyed at the portal that had just consumed her team.

**Man I sucked at grammar when I wrote this. **

**Well, there it is the first re-writen chapter not much changed save for Zatanna staying behind. But when I re-read the original I saw that I left her out and since she didn't really have that much significance to the plot before I decided to give her some and had her stay behind to help tell the league what happened. Anyway there you go, hope you like it if your new, if your re-reading the story yes, yes I did combined the first and second chapters. It seemed easier and it made me feel like I actually got some work done.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it took so long for me to update this, but since I already deleted the old story like an idiot, I'm working entirely from scratch. Anyhoozle here's the second chapter of TTLGOS (I made this title to dang long)**

**Chapter 2: welcome to the future. **

The portal ended up spitting them out pretty quickly, but it was not gentle. The only ones who landed on their feet was Batman, Robin, and Kaldur. But soon they too were on the ground or their knees after trying to walk. Kid Flash hit his head when he landed and was out cold, Artemis had crawled over to check on him and she pulled his head on to her lap when she managed to sit up.

"Kid dork is fine, I think" she called out looking around their surroundings. "But how did we end up back in the cave?"

At this Conner groaned and opened his eyes, seeing that M'gan was fine he looked around, Artemis was right they were back in the hangar. Something was wrong though. "Your right, but why are is the bio-ship here?"

Miss Martian shook her head, confused, everyone was looking at her for answers, even the Bat himself. "I don't know, she was still outside when we portaled here. Robin?" She called to the young bird, seeing him looking around with a frown on his face. "What are you looking for?"

The boy wonder's frown deepened as he turned his head towards her. "Where's Zatanna?"

The whole (conscious) team jerked up and looked around the hangar. Zatanna was nowhere to be seen.

"What do you think happened to her?" Artemis asked, worry clear in her voice. She was already freaked out enough to be thinking about the grim possibilities going through her head.

It's was Batman who answered. "Her magic kept her grounded" with a grunt of effort he hauled himself up to his feet, nobody but Robin noticing how he had to take a second to steady himself.

As everyone was following his example and standing, Superboy stopped and tilted his head to the side, listening, something was wrong. "Batman?" the clone inquired, drawing the attention of the dark knight. "We're not alone. I hear other people, two guys and a girl."

"It's probably just Black Canary with Red tornado and Manhunter checking on the portal anomaly." Artemis theorized.

Superboy shook his head. "Canary and Manhunter don't sound like this, plus the third voice is human."

Batman and Robin narrowed their eyes, not quite Bat-glaring but it was still intimidating. "Distance." Batman demanded.

Closing his eyes to focus he closed in on the voices. "Close. just around- He didn't need to finish for at that moment everyone could hear the footsteps and 'hushed' voices. Just like that weapons were drawn and fighting stances were taken up. In no time at all the three enemies were on them, Robin was just about to throw a smoke bomb, when they caught sight of the perps. And both parties froze. Conner was right, two guys, one girl, but that wasn't what caught them off guard. The girl woman, was in what looked like a female bat-suit, Kevlar from the look, but instead of the typical gray and black combo, she had purple lining on hers, another difference was that her eyes were uncovered, shocked blue eyes complementing her blonde hair. Next to her was a guy with black hair and a domino mask, the white lenses widened for a split second before narrowing into a suspicious glare. He wore a red long-sleeved armored shirt and black armored pants and boots. His 'utility belts' were strapped in an 'x' formation on his chest, the buckle a round bird's head symbol, connecting to a black one around his waist, and two separate smaller ones around his biceps. His 'cape' looked like metal wings. The batarangs that both held looked authentic and despite their apparent surprise they both were silent. After about a minute of gaging each other the third person spoke up. He was green, like full on martin green skin and hair, with a monkey tail and sharp teeth. The boy looked to be in his late teen to early adult years.

"Um..Batman? Aren't you supposed to be off world? Who are these guys? I recognize Superboy and sis, didn't you shorten your hair, and those two look like a young Artemis and Flash when he was kid flash but"

He was cut off by the Robin themed man behind him. "Don't be so familiar with the enemy Beast Boy. They're intruders." His voice was solid in a I'm-in-command-don't-question-me bat sort of way, but the woman beside him noticed that he wavered slightly on the word 'enemy'.

"_We're _the intruders?!" snarled Superboy. "You're the ones trespassing on our headquarters."

The trio in front of them shifted at that. Both the woman and the green kid, 'beast boy' apparently, looked to the man between them who was surveying the team. Even with his mask they could feel his eyes scanning them.

"I find that hard to believe, Conner, since we have been operating here for the past decade at least." His tone clipped, and it was clear he used Superboy's name to bait him. "Not to mention 'you' just left 15 minutes ago and he," He jerked his head towards Batman. "Has been off world for the past week and him and his team are not due back for another two."

Batman narrowed his eyes into a full on Bat-glare, but the man was unaffected. "I don't know what you're talking about, but your conclusion is faulty at best. This cave has only been reinstated for use for the past year."

At this the Bat-themed girl stepped forward, placing a placating hand on the man's chest, drawing a strange look from him, and spoke for the first time. "OK, let's try another approach, we may both be misinformed. I'm Batgirl. This is Red Robin and Beast Boy." She gestured to the man and boy on either side of her. "We are members of the covert operation group off the justice league, Red Robin is the leader of another group, including beast boy, but they're still on call for us." She continued despite the incredulous look she received from 'Red Robin'. "In short, we're the good guys, but don't get any ideas." She concluded her info dump with a surprisingly perfected Bat-glare.

Robin, who had been paying close attention to certain comments was beginning to get worried, he had heard of incidents that could explain their situation, he watched enough movies, but it didn't seem possible. Against his better judgment and what he knew was an oncoming Bat-glare from his mentor he returned 'Batgirl's' favor. "I'm Robin," he began, which drew looks from both his team and trio blocking their exit. "This is my team, _we _are the covert operations team of the Justice league. I know because I'm one of the founding members." He didn't know why he added that last part but it felt important.

Aqualad stepped up next to play pacifist. "I am Aqualad team leader," this drew some raised eyebrows from the trio, interesting. "We were on a mission to stop Mirror Master from 'acquiring' a diamond of great importance to his plan, a plan that has apparently brought us here."

It was silent as both parties digested the Intel from each other. Finally Batman released a sigh, draw the attention to him. "where are we?"

Red Robin's jaw tightened. "I'm beginning to think you should be asking 'when'."

"oh please!" Artemis interjected. "Are you suggesting time travel?"

Beast boy smirked. "It wouldn't be our first experience with it."

Artemis shook her head. "No way, it's 2013 and your lying, just trying to trip us up." She tightened her grip on her bow and she brought her hands to her hips.

Batgirl sighed as Red Robin nodded to beast boy who changed into a bird a zipped off. "Yep that's definitely Artemis." She shook her head as the bird came back dropping what looked like a calendar into Batman's hands before circling back and changing back to Beast Boy.

Robin narrowed his eyes at the green guy before turning to Batman. "What does it say?" The only response her got was Batman's frown deepening, but that was enough for the boy wonder. "No way." He breathed.

Red Robin Smiled lightly at him, and Robin got the feeling that the older boy knew him. "Way, welcome to 2028."

**Well, there you go the second chapter completely rewritten. To be honest I kinda like this version better. But hey, I'm not the reader, so let me know what you think and I'll try to update as soon as I can. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, I'm baaaack****㈳6. Sorry about not updating but my creative writing class had a, no joke, Fanfiction writing assignment so I decided to use this but she put a limit on how long it could be and it needed a decent ending and this chapter probably would go over that limit and not really qualify as an ending so….yeah, here's chapter 3. **

It took a while but after getting over the initial chaos of 'hey, you're in the future', Red Robin and Batgirl lead them out to the med bay to check over Wally while Beast Boy went ahead to alert someone.

"so" Red Robin began, trying to be social. "How'd you all get here?"

Wally looked up from where he was sitting, having woken up and been debriefed. "Had a bit a run in with joker while fighting Mirror Master, went a bit southward when he activated his portal thingy."

"'Portal thingy'?" Artemis sneered at the speedster. "You might want to rethink being science 'prodigy' Baywatch."

While the two began to argue the others turned back to the conversation.

Robin smirked at the male part of the future natives. "So, Red Robin huh? Anyone ever yell 'yum' when you walk in the room?"

The older boy in question smiled down at his predecessor. "Only those with a death wish…" His smile turned into what looked like an annoyed pout. "Or my older Bother...Brothers….actually I think they have death wishes themselves."

Batgirl chuckled at her partner. "You are pretty fun to tease boy wonder."

At this Batman and robin frowned, recognizing the title, the earlier scanning over the older boy.

"'boy wonder'" He asked raising an eyebrow and secretly glancing between Robin and the older boy.

"Not like you're thinking." Came his rushed reply as others began to think the same as the Bat. "I mean, I was Robin, but I'm not him."

At this many of the occupants, specifically their Gotham based ones, grew confused. But before any more questions could be asked a green leopard ran into the room and then proceeded to turn into Beast boy, who snapped to attention with a mock solute. "I have successfully contacted help, he should be here in a few minutes."

Batgirl smiled at her younger college. "Great, who'd you call?"

"Nightwing"

At that name both batgirl and Red robin's eyes widened and then snapped at their green friend with their voices overlapping, past company forgotten.

"Nightwing!?" Red Robin snapped "what were you thinking he's already up to his neck in work!"

"But he said he could handle-The poor changeling tried to defend himself before Batgirl cut him off.

"Of course he SAID that, when has Nightwing ever not tried to help with something if thought he could?!" she stressed, one hand on her hip and the other waving around.

"You couldn't have called ANYONE else? The poor guy's goanna run himself into the ground and I am not ready to perform his funeral! Does he even know what's going on!?" Red ranted with his partner.

Beast boy gritted his teeth and stood up straighter, trying to be heard amongst the yelling. "I tried but everyone else I called was busy! Not to mention you 'Bat clan' people only ever seem to your own, so i thought it was a god idea!"

The bickering would have continued on after that with the two defending that that wasn't true be their company was getting annoyed.

"Enough!" Conner yelled holding his ears, "jeez, stop shouting, there's nothing that can be done now anyway."

The two bats turned red at the reminder of their surroundings and the appearances they were supposed to uphold and immediately straightened out and molded their features to imply indifference, Red Robin especially, before addressing the time travelers. "Right, It seems that Kid Flash has sustained no real damage." He paused looking over at Wally and the scan results. "All we can do now is wait for Nightwing, if you want we can all wait in the commons area, that's where he'll most likely be." With that the team stood and followed the three out even though they knew the way. Batman hung back however after seeing Robin not moving, an expression of deep thought on his son's face. They sat there for a moment hearing bits of the fading conversation, such as Kaldur asking who Nightwing was, to which Batgirl's fading voice replied; "He's Red Robin's older brother, the whole clans older brother kind of." After that everyone's voices faded out and Batman turned to Robin.

"What's wrong?"

Slowly Robin let out a breath, shaking his head. "Nothing, just thinking. He said he was Robin…but he's not me…what does that mean for me, I would never give up Robin. And Batgirl, well there's her too, but she said something about a 'clan' and best boy did too…." The boy trailed off, so idea forming that he didn't want to speak about. Holding back a sigh, Batman wrapped his cape around the young bird, like he used to when Robin was younger. Robin himself immediately snuggled up next to the man he considered a father, moments like these were rare outside of uniform now a days, much less in uniform. They stayed like that for a heartbeat or two before Batman spoke. "I can't say what this means, but remember, be careful what you ask there may be things in your future that you may not want to know." It wasn't exactly the most comforting statement, but it worked for them. It would have to anyway, because almost as if on queue, the zeta beams went of right then announcing the someone's arrival.

"_**Nightwing B-01"**_

"'B-01'?" Robin breathed "but that's…." he jumped out of Batman's hold and they shot off to the commons room.

**Well there's chapter three sorry it's so short but I really wanted to get this out for you guys. I'll try to get the next one out soon but with final exams coming up….well I'll still try.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/n: Sorry about not up dating for like a ZILLION YEARS but life happened. Just know I will finish this fic I just won't be updating like, everyday or week because life. Thank you too those who **_**have **_**stuck with this story. Here is a nice long update as penance. P.s I went with the young justice/son of batman design for Nightwing.**_

Zatanna watched as her team was sucked through the portal. Luckily she had been able to magically ground herself to the floor, but the others….they hadn't been so lucky. By the time batman and robin's line had snapped she was doing her best just to keep herself grounded. Then almost as quickly as it had opened, the portal "closed", going back to the state of a simple-weirdly shaped as it was- mirror. Slowly she brought her arms down from where she'd been blocking her face from debris, spoke the incantation to free herself, and surveyed the damage. It was immense, the whole building looked one wrong breeze away from fully imploding.

Zatanna swallowed nervously, "Guys?" she yelled hoping against her better knowledge that maybe one of them had somehow found leverage and didn't get sucked in. As expected she received no response. "ekat em edistuo"

Her magic landed her just outside the building, in the parking lot, and from her new vantage point the museum didn't look much better. Her team…Batman…what happened to them?! With shaky hands she lifted her fingers to the com. Piece in her ear and carefully changed the frequency like Robin had taught her. Robin. She could only pray he was alright. "Zatanna to league?" she tried, and immediately cleared her throat to try and shake the waver out of it. "Zatanna calling League, requesting immediate back up." She licked her lips, hoping she was doing this right. "I-we have a problem. A big one. Come to the Gotham Museum as soon as you can. Please." The com. Was silent for what was probably 5 minutes but felt like 5 hours to Zatanna, who began to wonder if maybe she did that wrong, maybe she dialed the wrong frequency? God help her if that was it, she was sure that was the right frequency, if it wasn't she had no idea- and there it was.

Black Canary's voice came through loud and clear in her ear. "Understood Zatanna, sending backup immediately." There was a pause and then B.C's voice was back, gentler this time. "Don't worry Zatanna, we'll be there in a few minutes, hang tight."

And just like that everything was quite again, and while the fear was still there, she did feel a bit better knowing the Calvary was on it's way. "Don't worry guys" she told the air. "We'll save you." After all, that's just what they did.

(linebreaklinebreaklinebreakheylookatthatlinebreak)

The team entered the commons area just as the zeta tube activated and a twentyish black haired man in a black suit with a blue bird symbol on his chest walked out. He walked straight up to Red Robin and Batgirl, rubbing his eyes through his mask. (Later he'd attribute his disregard of the past team to his extreme lack of sleep.)

His body language read militant though his tone was easy going enough as he addressed who the team now knew to be his younger brother. "Alright baby bird, what's the emergency?"

Red Robin raised an eyebrow at his brother, slowly taking in his tired stance. Nightwing was good at hiding fatigue and pushing through, all the bats were, but Tim could see through it. At the same time Artemis gave a small amused huff behind him.

"Does he not see us standing right here?" she asked, the snarky and unspoken '_seriously_' in her voice was all dripping from her statement. Before she even got the last syllable out Nightwing had locked eyes onto the young team and Tim could feel their uncomfortable shifting in the nanosecond it took his brother's analyzing gaze to sum up the situation.

A pinched frown on his face, Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose. "Start talking."

Red Robin nodded and looked at Kaldur. "You or me?"

Sadly he could only take in Aqualad's (rather funny) confused face for moment before they heard rushed foots steps and everyone turned to see Robin skid to a stop in front of them. "Alright tell me I didn't just hear what I thought I did 'cuz-"

Robin's rushed ramblings were cut short by Batman coming up right behind him. The man to one second to glance over the newcomer, something about the man starting up a nagging sensation in the back of his head. "I take it your 'Nightwing'?" he asked, ignoring the look his partner sent him.

Their appearance seemed to have taken the man by surprise, his gaze seemingly locked on the young boy by his side. Interesting. Tearing his gaze away from the dynamic duo, he turned to Red Robin an almost exasperated air about him. "Anyone else I need to know about?"

The younger at least had the decency to look away in embarrassment, almost mumbling his reply. "No, that's all of 'em"

'Nightwing' smiled shaking his head lightly in amusement. However, Batman was still watching him, not having missed that he had yet to answer his question. The man returned his attention to the Bat, frown back on his face and his mask bunching up where his eye brown drew together, not even bothering to try and hide his suspicion of the older man. "I am" he said at last.

Raising his head and looking directly into the dark knight's eyes he adopted a weirdly tense and loose stance all the same time. Batman and the team couldn't help but notice how he'd slowly come closer to the other future heroes during the short exchange, specifically Red Robin. Batman could almost see the apprehension rising in the young man (he couldn't be older than mid-twenties surely) as he realized it was highly likely no one had been able to explain the situation to the poor lad yet. That certainly wasn't good. Given the information of his own whereabouts in this time, and other information he'd been given, Batman could only guess what was going on in Nightwing's mind. He knew what _he'd_ be thinking in this situation and judging by the increasingly protective posture the man was taking up in front of Red Robin- (_Nightwing's apparent younger brother_) his mind reminded him of the fading conversation he'd overheard- the man's thoughts were probably along those same lines.

"I take it you haven't been debriefed yet." He kept his tone purposefully casual, or as casual as he got anyway, so it was more like monotone.

That seemed the bleed out some of the tension in his body even more so when Red Robin put a hand on his shoulder. Batgirl made a sound akin to a snort and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, reign it in Nightwing, not like you haven't already guessed what's going on."

Nightwing just sent her a half-hearted glare, and the two younger bats both laughed internally at the obvious (to them anyway) effort it was taking for the elder not pout. He did have an image to uphold, he _was _leader here after all.

Meanwhile the team was just coming out of a short mental conversation. Kaldur stepped forward and addressed the newcomer. "Pardon me, Nightwing. I apologize for the lateness of my teammate, and Batman is right, we indeed have not yet explained ourselves." For all the Kaldur knew he was more than likely meeting this man for the first time…there was something about him that nagged at him. It nagged at all of them on some level though no one said anything. However Kaldur knew when he was addressing a superior, and this man clearly fit the bill for this time.

Nightwing just closed his eyes behind his mask and let out a slow breath. Batgirl had had point, he had a good idea what this was, and there weren't really a whole lot of ways for the younger version of the original team to be standing in front of him. Walking forward he made his way over to the couches, waving at everyone to follow him. "Alright get comfy people. Aqualad. Red. I want both sides. Make it quick."


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh my lord can it be? A chapter? This soon after my colossal hiatus?! Yes children, yes it is. Thank you for all of the follows and favorites guys, like…wow. Did not expect that kind of welcome back. BTW I finally beat my Arkham Knight game and just…(SPOILER ALERT!)..Jaybird…My precious little jaybird. Yes. I liked the under the red hood movie but Arkham knight had the best Jason/Bruce father son reunion thing and when he came back and helped Bruce I was just…my feels man. So many feels in that game. Anyway on with le fic!**

"So then Smoke activates the machine and Joker blows the coop and poof here we are." Wally summed up after Kaldur's report.

Nightwing stood probed against the wall nodding in understanding. "All-right, sounds legitimate enough."

Red Robin shook his head at his brother fondly "what does it say about our lives that we just except that as 'legit' and move on?"

Batgirl snorted. "A lot." Smiling at everyone she got up from her spot on the floor and headed towards the zeta tubes. "Well I've got to head out, it's my turn to…you know" she nodded to Nightwing almost sadly and was met with a grimacing smile in return.

Batman raised an eyebrow at the exchange, especially when Red Robin subtly brushed against the elder man. The more he watched Nightwing the more he felt in his gut that he knew him. Who was he kidding, he _knew _who this man was, he just (for the first time in his life) didn't want to admit it. But the instinct was there call it what you might; father's intuition, his detective skill. But at the same time, he reasoned, Dick had/has no known relations he knew of, and believe him he checked when he first took the boy in.

"So what do we do now?" Artemis asked, sinking into the couch with her arms crossed.

"Wait" Batman told her. "You say you've dealt with time travel before." He addressed the brothers and 'Beast Boy' who was perched atop a bookshelf as a cat. "I assume that means you know how to deal with this."

Nightwing smirked at them and the entire team got that nagging feeling in their minds.

"B-01" Robin muttered next to Batman frowning at the man in blue.

"It'll take some time to reconfigure." Red Robin stated, once again adopting that I-know-all-and-you-should-know-what-I'm-talking-about-without-explenation bat-tone. "In the mean time you may stay here at the cave if you wish."

"_the way he says that." Artemis spoke into the mindlink. "we all know we really don't have a choice."_

"_He is merely being courteous Artemis." Kaldur reprimanded _

"What do you think 'Wing? they'll go for it? Your old team, you'd know." Red asked conversationally as the team entered their mental conversation. Unmindful of Superboy still paying them attention.

"I'm surprised you're not more suspicious baby bro." Nightwing answered instead. Tim just blankly glared at his brother, silently asking 'seriously? You know I've already tested them'. Nightwing just smiled and pated his head in a way he knew annoyed the younger.

"Enough" Batman suddenly spoke up. And the bat brothers noticed the way Artemis and Wally were glaring at each other.

"oh yesh, you too stop fighting and get a room already." Nightwing joked before frowning and turning to Batman bringing himself to his full height. "And stop glaring at me B you didn't scare me when I was 13 and you don't scare me now."

Most of the team balked at his gall. Even Robin never addresses Batman like that. Even Batman was taken aback some, though he didn't show it. Even Tim had raised an eyebrow at Nightwing's behavior, the man always did have a short fuse when he was tired though.

"Dude, who does he think he is?" Wally whispered in awed disbelief.

"An old member of this team apparently." Superboy said, catching the attention of everyone one else. "said it himself." He finished tilting his head towards Red Robin.

Robin narrowed his eyes at the now amused man. Nightwing seemed to be looking at him expectantly. "Your zeta code was B-01." Was all he said.

The team was now glued to Nightwing, wondering what he'd say. They knew what that meant. 'how did we not notice that?' Wally thought as really looked at the man.

"Yep" Nightwing said, popping the 'p'. smiling a bit at the attention, he was still a performer at heart.

Batman sighed internally as he gave the man one last ounce-over before meeting his eyes. The man as smirking at him. It was the same up tilt of lips he saw nearly every day. "Robin."

Nightwing winked at him. "In the flesh."

The room was silent as the team sat and stared at this grown version of their youngest team mate. Red Robin just rolled his eyes behind his mask and walked off muttering what sounded like "attention whore" as he went.

"So you do get taller." Was all Wally could think to say. Now that he was really looking he could defiantly see the similarities between the two, but the differences where most certainly there too. Nightwing's hair was bit longer and wild the way Rob's got when his grew out, but robin (or really Alfred) never let his hair get any longer than it was. Nightwing was understandably taller too, and pretty well built from what he could see. His costume was a lot more militaristic than Rob's though. It was certainly darker minus the blue bird on his chest which stretched out along his arm's to his ring and middle fingers. He had a utility belt sure, but unlike Rob's his was gray with noticeably less pockets. Then there were the two escrima sticks strapped to his thigh that he swore had what looked like Tasers at the ends. Mainly though was the lack of childish aura. Nightwing seemed playful still sure and it wasn't like he was saying Rob was totally immature –far from it-, but he didn't just glow with it like his younger counter part. No, Wally noticed, this guy was defiantly more serious, and was it just him or did his smile seem more strained?

Nightwing just laughed at his comment while Robin gave him an indignant glare. "I guess that is due." He said, looking at his younger self. "Man I really was short. What did you feed me back then B?"

Batman just looked at him, silently saying _'you know the answer to that'._ While Robing let out a frustrated "Hey! I'm not shor-"

Nightwing sorted. "yeah, yeah I know. 'I'm not short I'm travel sized.'" He finished.

Robin stopped short, glaring at his older self. He frowned, looking down as if gathering courage for something. Nightwing kept his gaze on him as if he knew what was coming, probably did.

"so…'Nightwing' huh?" Robin said at last. "what happened to Robin?"

Immediately the team tensed up, suddenly wondering the same thing. Batman saw the sad smile his older bird gave them and made the executive decision to cut this short. Before he could however Wally spoke up.

"_AwDude,justpleasedon'ttellmeyoupulledaRedArrow! oncewasenoughman- OW!" _Batman sent a silent thank you to Artemis who whapped Wally upside the head.

"Normal speed Kid mouth." She said as Wally rubbed the back of his head. "Normal. Speed."

"Seriously, though." She said, addressing the older boy wonder. "He does have point, one Angst fest is enough thank you." She shrugged as the others looked at her, Robin with knowing smirk. "what? You get into enough arguments with him your bound learn to understand him."

Robin just shook his head then suddenly got a horrified look on his face before whipping around to face his older self. "Dude, tell me we don't actually pull a Red Arrow."

Nightwing was silent though as he stared at KF, still, as if he was still trying to comprehend the question. Batman on the other hand thought he felt his heart stop for a moment at the reaction. Oh no, oh hell no. He saw the issues going on between Queen and Harper and just…..no. for all that he was known for always having a plan for _everything, _He'd never once thought the same could occur between himself and his own son. Robin was still too young for teenage rebellion right? But down the road….nope, suddenly Batman was hit with the strangest (for him) sense of 'DO NOT WANT TO KNOW'.

Nightwing seemed to blink a couple of times behind his mask before he focused on his younger self and then the rest of the room's occupants. His head tilted to the side and they noticed his shoulders where shaking ever so slightly, his smile seemed tighter. Then from behind them came:

"Pull a what now?"

Wally, Artemis, and M'gan jumped about 5 feet of their seats. The other's had noticed him coming up, and while Aqualad was having a mini heart attack he kept himself composed. Red Robin was behind them, eyebrow raised as he laughed silently at their reactions.

Nightwing gave a weird sound before finally releasing his laugh. "They want to know if I 'pulled a Red arrow'."

Now both eyebrows rose beneath the other bat's mask as Red Robin gave his brother a teasing grin. "Pfft. Seriously?" RR shook his head. "yes. Because you are _so _the angsty rebellious one of the family." His words were obviously referencing something.

Artemis went to laugh along when Nightwing playfully glared at Red Robin, Waving him off with a 'ha ha, very funny.' Before turning around to do something with his halo-glove, until something occurred to her.

"Wait." She said, looking between her Robin and Red Robin Behind her. "You said Nightwing was your older brother." She stated, ignoring the sudden panicked look on red robin's face as he franticly gave her the universal 'stop/cut' signal and how Nightwing seemed to go very still. "You have a brother Robin?"

Robin frowned and opened his mouth to say that, no, he was very much an only child. But was cut off by what he could only call the sound of a strangled kitten.

Everyone watched as Red Robin went very still, his face beat red in a very impressive 'deer in headlights' look. It was quickly identified that Nightwing had been the one to make the sound as he suddenly jumped up and over, flipping over the couch to latch on to his brother who now had a look of 'f my life' on his face. All of the past team members were frozen in a 'what the ****?' feeling looking at each other and Robin.

"Aw BABBY BRID! YOU DO LOVE ME!"

"Nightwing get off"

"it's okay little brother, let out, LET IT GO!"

" 'Wing im not kidding-"

"My baby brother loves me!"

"Get Off!" Red Robin shouted as he pushed the man away. "Seriously, you'd think you were suffering from neglect."

Nightwing just laughed, raising his arms in the 'I surrender' motion. He was smiling like the Cheshire cat.

The team was still staring at them. Artemis recovered first looking over at Red Robin. "_Baby bird?" _

Red Robin paused in straightening out his suit and turned his head to glare at his brother. "I hate you." He said simply, frowning as the jerk just kept laughing.

"Aw come on, no you don't." Nightwing coaxed. "I'm your big brother and you love me."

Robin was still staring at them. "But." He started, getting the attention of the others. "I don't have a brother."

That gained a lot of eyebrow raises, Wally was majorly confused too. He knew Robin. Knew his identity, backstory, everything. Rob was telling the truth he didn't have a brother.

"Oh but you do." Nightwing said mysteriously. "In all seriousness though." He continued, suddenly all business. "It will take a bit to work out a solution for you so be careful what you do and ask. Regardless what t.v might say, you being here does not mean we remember doing this ourselves, nor does It mean anything you do or see will destroy the timeline. However you can do damage with the wrong knowledge or action. Believe it or not I'm happy with my life, please don't screw it up."

Red Robin raised a silent eyebrow at his brother. 'a bit dramatic much' he thought. Still though, who was he to question. Nightwing looked like he was going to say something else when he suddenly stoped and put a finger to his ear. "Go Ahead." He said, turning away from the group. "What? Now, already?" Nightwing ran a hand through his hair as he nodded despite the other side not being able to see him. "No, no I'm on my way, just got distracted with something."

Turning to the now curious team he gestured to Red Robin. "Well I've gotta go, Red Robin will get you situated. B." he said, nodding in direction of his (former) mentor and walking off to the zeta tube without another word.

"_**well that was an adventure and a half" **_Wally spoke into the Mind Link.

"_**No shit." **_Artemis replied. _**"wonder where he went."**_

"_**focus" **_Kaldur told them.

The two looked over and saw that the other had gotten up and were following Red Robin out of the room.

"So yeah," Red Robin told them. "You can use these rooms. Not too many people come by this hallway." He said, pointing down a hallway a few feet away on the left. "Like 'Wing said just running into someone and having a chat doesn't destroy history but I still advise caution. Especially you Batman." He said when the reached the rooms. "You're supposed to be off world after all, and it wouldn't be the first time we've dealt with imposters or the like."

Seeing everyone squared away the teen turned and headed out towards the living room. "Anyway, I'm going to contact someone who might be able to help and maybe so some case work. If you need anything, the layout should be more or less the same as you're used to." And with that he was gone.

"Friendly bunch those two." Artemis said as she grabbed M'gan and dragged her into a room. The others looked at each other, shrugged and went into a different room leaving Batman and Robin. "an adventure and a half huh?" Robin whispered before turning too his mentor who was already tapping away at his own hollo glove. "So, information." He asked.

Batman nodded, the image of the older version of his son lingering in his mind, as well as the implications of red robins status as Dick's 'brother'. "I'm running different algorithms for possible oslutions to our predicament. The less time we spend here the better, regardless of what your older self and red robin imply."


End file.
